Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?  Eleonora Seraﬁ Movska ORCID: 0000-0003-2208-6012 SS

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?  Eleonora Seraﬁ movska ORCID: 0000-0003-2208-6012 SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA Eleonora Seraﬁ movska, Marijana Markovikj ORCID: 0000-0002-3203-485X SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.13.1(25).2

ABSTRACT: Th e Macedonian-Greek agreement to change the name of the Republic of Macedonia resulted in a referendum. Th e columns of relevant opinion leaders published in electronic media during the offi cial referendum campaign was the focus of interest and research presented in this article. Th e sample comprised 57 columns by 19 columnists. Th e discussion of the fi ndings in this paper is based on framing theory with media content analyses; the template for media monitor- ing was used as an instrument based on human coding. Th e main research question addressed in this paper is: “How are opinion leaders setting frames?” Th e hypothesis is that opinion leaders use diff erent themes and scripts to construct media framing due to narrow public opinion “for” or “against/boycott” the change of the constitutional name. Two negative, emotionally charged frames were identifi ed: the frame “for” promoted positive messages reinforced with ideas about the EU and NATO membership; the frame “against/boycott” promoted messages that Macedonian identity will be lost.

KEYWORDS: media frames, opinion leaders, referendum campaign, emotionally-charged words, Prespa Agreement, Republic of Macedonia.



INTRODUCTION

Th e dispute over the name between the Republic of Greece and the Republic of Macedonia became ‘real’ aft er the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Due to the name dispute, Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations under the temporary reference to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Mace- donia (FYRM). Th is term has been for use only in the United Nations, and does not imply that the Republic of Macedonia has any ties to the former Yugoslavia (Floudas,

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ISSN 1899-5101 ...... 5

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 5 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1610:40:16 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

2002). By December 2011, 133 countries had come to recognize Macedonia as the Republic of Macedonia, representing over 66% of the total number of UN member states. To resolve the dispute, the United Nations acted as a mediator. Th e entry of the Republic of Macedonia into NATO and the EU was on condition that the name dispute between the two countries be resolved. In the spirit of Euro-Atlantic integration processes, the new government of the Republic of Macedonia, led by Zoran Zaev, signed the agreement in Prespa on June 17th, 2018. With this agreement (TNH, 2018), the name of the Republic of Macedonia is changed to the Republic of North Macedonia, erga omnes. In order to declare a change of name, the Government held a referendum with the following question: “Are you for membership of the EU and NATO by accepting the Agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?” (Souli, 2018). In Macedonia, the referendum is a constitutional category regulated by Article 73 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia (Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, 2014). A referendum can be called aft er most parliamentar- ians have voted, or the Assembly is obliged to announce a referendum when a pro- posal is submitted by at least 150,000 voters. Th e decision reached through the referendum is compulsory (Pravo.org.mk, n.d.). Th e referendum on changing the state name of the Republic of Macedonia was scheduled for September 30th, 2018, and the referendum campaign was conducted three weeks before that date. For a referendum to be successful, according to the Constitution, over 50% of the electorate should vote. Th e turnout in the referendum was 36.9%, of which 94.1% were “for” (BBC news, 2018) and according to the government this referendum was a success. Th e change of name was promoted by the ruling parties (SDSM and DUI), by Albanian political parties in opposition supported by the international factor (EWB, 2018) and the president of Albania (BIRN, 2018). Th e Prespa Agreement, from which came the referendum for changing the name of the Republic of Macedonia, was fully supported by the offi cial international public. According to the statements of the representatives of the Government, such historical changes will lead the Republic of Macedonia towards democratic processes and Euro-Atlantic integration. Contrary to these, there is the opinion that with these changes the national identity and the historical continuity of Macedonia and the Macedonian people will be lost. Th is opinion was based on the long-lasting struggle of the Macedonian people for their independence. Th e great number of historical facts speaks about the actions and activities of the Macedonian people to show and prove to the world that it is unique and diff erent from other nations. Considering all these political and historical struggles, media reporting during the referendum campaign is a somewhat daunting topic for scientifi c analysis. Of particular interest to this research were the individuals who stood out as leaders in public opinion and whose columns were published in electronic media. During the referendum campaign, several directions (instructions, suggestions for the audience) in those columns (published in electronic media) were identifi ed: Go and vote

6 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 6 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1610:40:16 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

“for”, Go and vote “against”, Just go and decide which option to vote for, and Boycott the referendum.

THEORETICAL CONCEPTS

Agenda setting, agenda building, framing

Th e foundations of agenda setting theory that speaks to the ability of the media to set a public agenda, to create public awareness and determine the importance of certain issues (McCombs & Reynolds, 2002; McCombs, 2005) have been proven by a number of researchers for diff erent types of media (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Over numerous years of study, the concept of agenda setting has expanded to agenda building and political agenda setting (Rogers & Dearing, 1988; Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006) and from the fi rst level “came” the second-level of agenda setting, framing (McCombs & Ghanem, 2001). All extensions and expansions are important in proving the complex relationship between the media and society. Th is article presents a framing analysis approach of the columns published in electronic media during the period of the referendum campaign for change of the country’s constitutional name. For the fi rst time this term was defi ned by Goff man in 1974 in the book entitled: ‘Frame Analysis, an Essay on the Organisation of the Experience’ though the concept was fi rst given by Bateson in 1972 (Hallahan, 2008) as psychological frames. According to Goff man (1974), people understand what is happening around them through the primary framework for whose presence people are not even aware. Th e primary frameworks can be natural and social, and both have the role of enabling the individual’s orientation in the environment in which he/she lives. Fram- ing as a theory of mass communication is about how information is organized and provided to the audience. According to this theory ‘hot’ events are packaged in a way that can provoke some type of interpretation among the audience. How messages are ‘framed’ infl uences how the audience will perceive the reality, as the audience is not in real, physical contact with the events; people understand the reality mediated through the media, so it can be said that framing is a process of construction of social reality (Scheufele, 1999). Frames are a system of ideas which organize the elements of the text (words, pictures). Th ey are the result of previous life experiences and they are culturally determined. Each word can be a frame for most people or for some. In addition, the same word can be a diff erent frame for diff erent people. Goff man (1974) argued that people see the world through their internalized frames, so each new piece of information is processed to fi t in with the already-existing frames. Th erefore, those who would like to introduce new ideas, strategies and so on, will have to use culturally known and acceptable ideas and develop new concepts that fi t in with existing frames. As the construction of public opinion is connected to the way experts or leaders frame relevant and important events (Chong & Druckman, 2007), it will be challenging to ex- plore and explain how frames are used in a case/cases of polarized public opinion.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 7

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 7 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1610:40:16 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

One of the focuses in recent research in political communication is about framing the news/texts published in media. Th e media following a certain discourse and wanting to impose a particular narrative will present the information in a certain way depending on that discourse, or narrative (DeVreese & Semetko, 2014). Th is article presents a framing analysis approach to columns in which the main theme covers the referendum campaign. Th e basic idea of this article is to apply a linguistic approach (Matthes & Kohring, 2008) as a method for frame analysis. Th is approach defi nes the framing process in which particular elements of the real world engraved in words are noted and presented as important (Entman, 1993). In this article, columns are assumed as frames which limit the perception and narrow audience reality in the elements framed in the perception fi eld. Scheufele (1999) pointed out a very important issue which clarifi es the framing process — the text can communicate if the frames are the same or similar both in the sender and in the receiver. According to this author, there should be a distinc- tion between media frames and audience frames. Frames as shared fi gures are based on the attitudes of the journalist (columnists) who organize the reality and the audience that is able to understand the meaning of the frame (Ardèvol-Abreu, 2015).

Opinion leaders during the referendum campaign

Th e term ‘opinion leader’ appears for the fi rst time in the two-step fl ow of communication theory by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz (DeFleur & Lowery, 1983). Like any other theory that undergoes developmental changes, this theory has under- gone several changes in several directions (Bennett & Manheim, 2006). However, what is constant in the meaning of the term opinion leader is that he/she is a person, a very active media user, with higher levels of interest in relevant issues, well-in- formed about new events and developments in the living space where he/she lives, and is considered to be an expert in a specifi c fi eld. Th e opinion leader (OL in the further text) has a special place in a wider social network; he/she is respected by others to whom he/she conveys the main messages and at the same time interprets them (Weimannet et al., 2007). Opinion leaders are people who have the skills to infl uence the opinions, attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and behaviors of others (Valente, 2008) because their special position in the social network — nowadays online social networks (Bodendorf & Kaiser, 2009). In this research, it was assumed that the columnists were an OL, as electronic media continuously published their columns during the period of the referendum campaign. Th is is especially true for political columnists who comment frequently on various political events during offi cial campaigns. A referendum is a form of direct decision-making by citizens for a certain legal act or for the adoption of a specifi c decision of special importance for the state or the local community. A referendum is the most important and widespread institu- tion of direct democracy in the world. It is “an increasingly important means of

8 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 8 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1610:40:16 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

enacting or preventing legislation in countries around the world” (Vreese & Semet- ko, 2014). Although it seems that this is a simple referendum vote (Yes = For or No = Against), behind this simple statement there are complex and not one-sided and unambiguous questions and topics (Vreese & Semetko, 2014). Th erefore, presented facts, arguments, frames in which all the information is stored, and the credibility of information sources during the referendum campaign can certainly infl uence the outcome of the referendum vote (Lupia, 1992; 1994). Hence, it is very important what information fl ows through the media during the referendum campaign because this information will contribute to the learning of something new as well as crystallizing unformed attitudes and opinions, no matter if it is a one, two, or multiple step fl ow of communication process. LeDuc (2002) identifi es three types of referendum campaigns that might be a starting point when the preparations for campaigns start. Th ere are campaigns where voters do not have fully formulated views, so during the campaign the views need to be formed; campaigns where opinions have already been formed, but they are not rigid so they can be reformed, and campaigns where there are strong views regarding the referendum issue(s) so no one believes that a quick reversal will happen. But whatever the situation with the voters before the referendum campaign, the information that fl ows during the campaign is, nonetheless, very important (Bennett & Entman, 2001).

METHODOLOGY

Th e main research goals are to identify the opinion leaders who write columns in electronic media in the Macedonian language during the offi cial referendum campaign for the change of the constitutional name of the country, and to identify the frameworks (frames) they use to infl uence public opinion. Th e main research question is: How do OLs in their columns, published in electronic media (portals, blogs, and electronic versions of printed media) set the frame to change the constitutional name of the state? Th e general hypothesis predicted that diff erent OLs following a certain discourse will use diff erent themes and scripts to construct media framing due to narrow public opinion “for” or “against/boycotting” the change of the constitutional name in other to join the EU and NATO. Th e fi rst hypothesis predicted that OLs who want to impose a narrative “for” the change of the constitutional name of the country will set the agenda including diff erent themes in comparison with OLs who want to impose a narrative “against/boycotting” the change of the constitutional name in order to join the EU and NATO. Th e second hypothesis predicted that OLs who want to impose a narrative “for” the change of the constitutional name of the country will set the frame including diff erent scripts in comparison with OLs who want to set a frame imposing a narrative “against/boycott” the change of the constitutional name.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 9

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 9 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

Th is article is based on the linguistic approach for the measurement of media frames, which is similar to hermeneutic studies, but the crucial diff erence is that the researcher determines linguistic elements that signify a frame (Matthes & Koh- ring, 2008). In this research, columns written by OLs and published in electronic media were the focus of analysis, as OLs are relevant in creating public opinion. It is assumed that they have relevant knowledge on a particular topic and they will ‘install’ frames which will be particularly infl uential. Content analysis of media frames in this research is based on the linguistic approach where frames are identifi ed by analyzing the selection and structure of specifi c words and sentences in a text (according to Matthes & Kohring based on: e.g. Entman, 1991; Esser & D’Angelo, 2003; Pan & Kosicki, 1993). Th is research was based on the Entman (1993) concept that particular words are the ‘building blocks’ of frames. Framing has been recognized as a process in political communication where the news promoted in media defi nes the essential topic of relevant political issues (Nelson, Oxley, & Clawson, 1997). Framing analysis is about the choices of words as mental representations of reality and their organization into news stories. Th e most elaborate linguistic approach in literature comes from Pan and Kosicki (1993). Th e authors distinguish structural dimensions of frames that can be meas- ured. Th ey are syntactical (the focus is on the title of the article, following the pyramid structure where the title is the most powerful element of the whole text), script (what has been written in the text), thematic (what is the main theme), and what are the rhetorical and stylistic choices (for example, metaphors etc.). Th is approach of framing analysis of the text structure is used for this content analysis of media frames in OLs’ columns. Th e framing analysis has been concretized with several of the following questions which constitute a content analysis template (Table 1). Emotions were classifi ed in several categories: confusion, anger, patriotic feelings, fear, security, urgency, inspiration, sadness, happiness, admiration, disgust, frustration, and honor.

Table 1. Content analysis template

Title (headline) • What is the main function of the title? • Does the language formulation of the title contain emotionally-charged words? • Does the title contain a clear message regarding the referendum? Th eme • What is the main, referential and secondary theme of the column? Script • What is the primary role of the text without a title? • Does the text identify the position of the OL(s) for the referendum? • What sources and actors are named, used by the author? • Does this script provoke certain emotions?

Source: Authors.

10 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1100 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

Th e goal of the research was to identify opinion leaders who were writing columns about the referendum during the referendum campaign, to identify where they published their columns, and to defi ne the criteria of OL(s) selection and their columns. First, the authors of columns who wrote on the topic of the referendum during the referendum campaign in blog form, portals, and newspapers (the electronic version of a newspaper that has a printed version) were selected. Th e criteria of opinion leaders’ selection was a publication of at least three columns (a min- imum of one per week) for the period of the three-week offi cial media campaign. In cases where the author published more than three columns, a deliberate and purposeful selection of the columns was undertaken (concerning the content of the column). Overall, the sample comprised 57 columns by 19 columnists (Table 2).

Table 2. Sample of the study: Media and the columnist

Electronic version of Profession of the Website the newspaper with Columnist columnist printed edition/Blog NOVA – Biljana Sekulovska Journalist Plusinfo – Branko Trichkovski Journalist Plusinfo – Dzabir Derala NGO activist Plusinfo – Branko Gerovski Journalist Deutsche Welle on mk Nezavisen Vesnik Petar Arskovski Expert/political analyst Nezavisen Vesnik Erol Rozaov Journalist Prizma – Sasho Kakalanov Journalist Prizma – Katerina Blazhevska Journalist Prizma – Dzwezdan Georgiev Journalist NetPress – Janko Ilkovski Journalist – Skazam da kazam Goran Mihajlovski Journalist Civil Media – Sasho Ordanovski Journalist – Nova Makedonija Aleksandar Rusjakov Writer – Nova Makedonija Biljana Vankovska University Professor – Nova Makedonija Eft im Kletnikov Writer – Nova Makedonija Pande Kolemishevski Journalist – Nova Makedonija Sasho Klekovski Expert/Analyst Express.mk Goran Momirovski Journalist – Nezavisen Vesnik Aleksandra Mitevska Journalist

Source: Authors.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 11

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1111 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

FINDINGS

Title construction

Overall, there were 57 titles which contained between 1 and 70 words (including the subtitle). Th e most frequent were those with three words (19.3%) and those with fi ve words (15.8%). Titles with between three to six words made up more than half (54.4%) of all titles in the research. In the context of sentence form, declarative sentences constituted 80.7% of all titles, for example “If Zaev was a good man, he would have been our Forrest Gump” (Rusjakov, 2018), interrogative sentences like: “With us or against us?” (Kolemisevski, 2018) amounted to 3.5% and sentences with exclamation marks: imperative and exclamatory sentences like “Macedonia won the European referendum!” (Trickovski, 2018) made up the remainder (15.8%) of all 57 analyzed texts (Table 3).

Table 3. Findings: Th e primary role of the title

Title which: Frequency of titles Percent (%) Calls for specifi c action/behavior 5 8.8 Convinces 6 10.5 Mocks/criticizes and belittles 13 22.8 Informs/educates 3 5.3 Reprimands/warns/threatens 11 19.3 Praises/commends someone else 2 3.5 Boasts and magnifi es itself/its attitude 1 1.8 Complains 2 3.5 Asks/sets a dilemma or topic 1 1.8 Something else 2 3.5 Cannot be determined 11 19.3

Source: Authors.

Th e most frequent title type is one which criticizes/mocks/belittles or reprimands/warns/threatens. Titles which convince make up 10.5% and titles which inform/educate account for barely 5%. Th e percentage of titles whose primary role cannot be determined was high because in this group were titles which were a mix of more types, for example “Party breakers” (Arsovski, 2018), or titles which are some sayings/phrases considered to be “uncommon” or “understandable to only a limited number of the general public” — “Dial ‘M’ for Murder” (Blazevska, 2018).

12 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1122 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

From all 57 titles, in 44 (77.2%) there were emotionally charged words or phrases. Th e table below is an illustration of specifi c emotion representation (Table 4).

Table 4. Findings: Titles with emotionally charged words/phrases

Titles which are with emotionally charged words (%) Confusion 22.7 Anger 15.9 Patriotic feelings 6.8 Fear 13.6 Safety 4.5 Urgency 1.8 Inspiration 7.0 Sadness 3.5 Disgust 29.5 Happiness 7.0 emotionally charged words Admiration 13.6 Satisfaction 1.8

Emotional state which would be provoked by certain Emotional state which would be provoked Frustration 18.2 Honor 11.4 Other 11.4

Source: Authors.

Th e data are indicators for the overall media tendency to provoke negative emotions and feelings through titles: almost 30% have titles that produce emotional states which can induce disgust; 22.7% have titles which produce emotional states which can provoke confusion, and 18.2% have titles which produce emotional states which can provoke frustration. With only 4.5% of the titles, the readers may feel safe. Th e titles with a mix of emotions are seen as being provocative of more than one emotional state. It was also interesting to analyze whether or not the title contains a clear message regarding the voting on the referendum. Of greater interest is that the data shows in only 7% of the titles was there a clear message regarding the voting. In the majority of the titles there is no clear message directly related to the referendum voting (Table 5).

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 13

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1133 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

Table 5. Findings: Context of the message about the referendum

Message context Percent (%) Th ere is no clear message regarding the referendum voting 63.2 Th ere is a clear message but not directly regarding the referendum voting 29.8 Th ere is a clear (direct) message regarding the referendum voting 07.0

Source: Authors.

At the end of this summary for the title analysis it is useful to present the data about the subject (issue) correspondence between text and title. In only 5.3% of cases is there no subject (issue/theme) correspondence between text and title. Th ese are situations when the title is a metaphor or something that only the columnist knows about.

Theme

All the 57 analyzed columns (only text without a title is now the focus of the analysis) were from 269 to 2,088 words in length. Th e most frequent are those texts with between 600–900 words (24 titles or 42%) and those with 900–1,200 words (13 texts or 22.8% from all 57); one is less than 300 words and two of the texts are more than 2,000 words in length. Th e next step of analysis was to look at the main, referential, and secondary themes of the column text. We found that 84.2% texts have a referential theme and 38.6% have a secondary theme, or in other words there are only 12.3% of texts which have only a main theme, while 84.2% texts contain both a main and a referential theme, and 35.1% texts contain a main, referential, and secondary theme (Table 6).

Script

Th e next analysis was to study the primary role of the text and what kind of message the text delivers to the readers. Th e most frequent texts are those with a clear message but not directly related to the referendum voting. It is a situation when the message can be easily drawn from the text, and this message could only indirectly infl uence the reader’s attitude and behavior. For example, if the text speaks about how the leader of the opposition party is a person who is untrustworthy, it means that the reader should vote FOR in the referendum, because the opposition party does not support the Prespa Agreement. Texts of this kind make up 45.6% of all the 57 analyzed texts. One-third of the texts has a clear message regarding what to do and how one should vote in the referendum, while the remaining 21% of texts are those with an indistinct message regarding how one should vote.

14 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1144 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

Table 6. Findings: Main, referential, and secondary themes of the texts

As main As referential As secondary Theme theme (%) theme (%) theme (%) Activities of Government/Ministries/ State and 03.5 02.1 04.5 Public Institutions Activities of the Opposition 15.8 12.5 13.6 Activities of the President 05.3 02.1 04.5 Public Prosecutor (Special Public Prosecutor) 01.8 – – International Relations/Aff airs 01.8 04.2 22.7 Referendum, Constitutional Amendments, 36.8 60.4 – Voting, Censuses Macedonian Identity, National Interests, 24.6 14.6 09.1 Language, Nationality/Culture Event on April 27th 01.8 – – Prespa Agreement 03.5 – 04.5 Political manipulation 01.8 – – Macedonian Diaspora – 02.1 – Corruption/ Abuse of Offi cial Services – – 22.7 State Security – – 04.5 Other 03.5 – 13.6

Source: Authors.

Similarly to the previous data (about the primary role of the column title), is the data that the primary role of the text is to mock, criticize, and belittle someone. If the text does not do that, then it reprimands/warns/threatens. Only 12.3% of the analyzed texts were written to inform and educate the public (Table 7).

Table 7. Findings: Primary role of the text

Text which: Frequency of texts Percentage (%) Convinces 11 19.3 Mocks/criticizes and belittles 21 36.8 Informs/educates 07 12.3 Reprimands/warn/threaten 06 28.1 Praises/commends someone else 02 05.0

Source: Authors.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 15

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1155 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

Table 8 illustrates the interconnection between the primary role of the texts and the message(s) that the authors tried to send to the readers.

Table 8. Findings: Th e crosstabs of the two variables: primary role and clear message show the following

Clear message but No clear message Clear message for Text which: not directly related Total (no.) about voting (no.) the voting (no.) to the voting (no.) Convinces 0 05611 Mocks/criticizes 210921 and belittles Informs/educates 6 01007 Reprimands/ 4 08416 warn/threaten Praises/commends 0 02002

Source: Authors.

Th e texts which intend to inform/educate have no clear message about the referendum voting. On the contrary, the texts which want to warn and threaten, and especially to mock/criticize and belittle or to convince have clear messages (directly or indirectly) for voting (what to do, what to think or how to vote in the referendum) (Table 9).

Table 9. Findings: Position of the text regarding voting

Voting Frequency of texts Percent (%) For 35 061.4 Against 01 001.8 Boycott 11 019.3 Cannot be identifi ed (neutral, balanced) 10 017.5 Total 57 100.0

Source: Authors.

Analysis continued with the emotionally charged words in the texts. From all 57 texts, in 54 (94.7%) there were emotionally charged words or phrases. In more detail, in 10.5% of the texts, emotionally charged words/phrases made up to one quarter of the whole text, while in 24.6% of the texts, emotionally charged words/ phrases were literally in every sentence (or in some cases even more, with more than one ECW in one sentence). In 28.1% of the texts emotionally charged words/ phrases made up 50–75% of the whole text. Th e remaining percentage of text had

16 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1166 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

ECW make up between 25–50% of the whole text. Th e table below illustrates the specifi c emotion representation (Table 10).

Table 10. Findings: Texts with emotionally charged words

Percentage of the text with emotionally charged words Confusion 13.0 Anger 64.8 Patriotic feelings 27.8 Fear 07.4 Safety 24.1 Urgency 07.4 Inspiration 25.9 Sadness 03.7

charged word Disgust 72.2 Admiration 14.8 Happiness 01.9 Satisfaction 01.9 Frustration 20.4 Emotional state which would be provoked by certain emotional Emotional state which would be provoked Honor 22.2

Source: Authors.

Th e data indicates that the media has a tendency to provoke negative emotions and feelings through texts. Texts with ECW number 72.2%, which can induce disgust, and 64.8% are texts with ECW which will very likely provoke anger. In only one text can readers fi nd a text that activates positive emotional states like happiness and satisfaction. At the end of this analysis about the text are data regarding named sources of information and actors in the texts. No source of information is mentioned in more than half of the analyzed columns (56.1%). In those which have some type of source (43.9%) the picture presented is that unclear sources can be found in only one text, imprecise sources in 24% of the texts, and precise sources of information can be read in 84% of the texts. From precise sources, domestic offi cial sources dominate. Th e number of actors named in the texts varies from 0 to 28. Th ree texts are without any actor, eight are with only one actor, and 12 texts are with six actors. More than 70 diff erent actors are named in the all analyzed columns. Th ere were individuals, domestic politicians such as Hristijan Mickoski (leader of the oppos-

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 17

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1177 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

ition party), Zoran Zaev (the Prime Minister), President Gjorgji Ivanov and international players such as Angela Merkel and Sebastian Kurtz. Collective domestic political parties included VMRO-DPMNE (the opposition party) and SDSM (the ruling party) while collective international bodies included the EU and NATO. Certain countries have also emerged as actors and have been named as Macedonia, Greece, Germany, Russia, and Croatia. Th ere were also collective non-specifi c actors like the general public. Th ere was also the use of personal pronouns such as I, We, You, Th ey. Th e most frequent actors are shown in Table 11.

Table 11. Findings: Actors in the texts rst actor fth actor ﬁ ﬁ actor/actress the actor appears actor appears as a actor appears as a actor appears as a third Total number of texts in which Total The number of texts as a sixth actor appears as a fourth actor appears as a second The number of texts in which the The number of texts in which the The number of texts in which the The number of texts in which the The number of texts in which the

VMRO-DPMNE 2 7 6 15 Hristijan Mickoski 124111 19 Zoran Zaev 51111 09 Gjorgji Ivanov 5 1 1 07 Macedonia 44112 12 I/me/we 2/2 1/1 1/2 4/5 Th ey 3 1 04 EU/NATO 2/0 5/1 1/3 1/1 9/5

Source: Authors.

Obviously, the attention of the majority of the columnists was directed at the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, its leader Hristijan Mickoski and, at then Presi- dent Gjorgji Ivanov. Th eir evaluations are mostly negative, as shown in Table 12.

DISCUSSION

Taking into consideration the postulates of the framing theory, the research was directed towards recognizing and identifying the frames. Two dominant frames recognized in Opinion Leaders’ columns were:

18 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1188 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

Table 12. Findings: Evaluation of actors

The number of texts The number of texts The number of texts in which the actor in which the actor in which the actor received a positive received a negative received a neutral evaluation evaluation evaluation VMRO-DPMNE 2 12 10 Hristijan Mickoski 1 17 01 Zoran Zaev 5 02 02 Gjorgji Ivanov – 06 01 Macedonia 4 04 01 EU 2 04 03 NATO 1 03 01

Source: Authors.

Frame FOR: Th e name change should happen because it will enable Mace- donia to become a member of the NATO alliance and will allow for membership of the European Union. Frame BOYCOTT: Th e change of the name should not happen because in this way Macedonia is losing its centuries-old national identity and integrity. Frame FOR was more frequent during the offi cial campaign. More than 6% of all OL columns promote the attitude to vote FOR (for changing the constitutional name of the country) in the referendum. Frame BOYCOTT was a less frequent frame — just 19% of all columns promote this attitude, which means not to vote and not to give legitimacy to the referendum (Figure 1).

CONCLUSIONS

Th e creation of public opinion, especially for events of historical importance to a nation is a challenge for researchers. Th e change of the name of a country is of historical importance and is a serious challenge for politicians, especially when it is known that the name of the state, like the name of each individual, is part of the identity and integrity that enters both the individual and the collective memory and determines certain attitudes and behaviors. Th e Macedonian people were ex- posed to the challenge of deciding whether or not to vote for a change to the constitutional name of the state. To that end, a decision by the Government to conduct a referendum on the name change was followed by activation of the attitude on whether citizens ‘are’ or ‘are not’ in favor of the Euro-integration processes. Th is question was of particular importance, as indicated by the overproduction of columns during the referendum campaign (88 columnists reported 385 columns of

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 19

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 1199 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

FRAME “FOR” FRAME “BOYCOTT” Title: Title: – Declarative sentences in 3–6 words; – Declarative sentences in 3–6 words; – Mocks/criticizes and belittles, calls for – Mocks/criticizes and belittles or specific action/behavior and convinces; reprimands/warns/threatens; – Emotionally charged words that provoke – Emotionally charged words that provoke disgust, fear and anger; disgust and confusion; – No clear message for voting, or clear but – No clear message for voting. indirect message for voting.

Script: Script: – 600–900 words; – 600–900 words; – Main theme: Referendum, Constitutional – Main theme: Macedonian identity, national amendments, voting, censuses; interests, language, nationality/culture; – Clear message (directly/not directly) for – Clear message but not directly related to the referendum voting; referendum voting; – Mock, criticize and belittle someone, – Dominantly reprimands/warn/threaten; convince or reprimand/warn/threaten; – Emotionally charged words that provoke – Emotionally charged word that provoke mostly anger, but inspiration and safeness also; mostly disgust, anger and patriotic feelings; – No source of information; – No source of information; – Actors: Mickoski (president of oppositional – Actors: VMRO-DPMNE (neutral evalua- party VMRO-DPMNE — negative evaluation), EU, NATO (negative or neutral tion), Ivanov (president of state — negative evaluation), Macedonia (positive evaluation). evaluation), “We”, Zaev (prime minister — positive evaluation), VMRO-DPMNE (political party-negative evaluation).

Figure 1. Findings: Th e two frames identifi ed in the study Source: Authors.

which 61.4% supported a name change, 28.4% boycotts and 10.2% were neutral (Serfi movska & Markovikj, 2019). Taking into consideration the postulates of the framing theory, the research was directed towards recognition of the main frames in OL columns. Two dominant frames were identifi ed. Th e fi rst is ‘For’: It is progressive to change the name as it will enable Macedonia to become a member of both NATO and the EU. Th e second is ‘Boycott’: Th e change of the name should not happen because in this way Macedonia is losing its centuries-old national identity and integrity. Th e two frameworks that OLs tried to promote were very similar in many ways. In both frames short titles that criticize/mock/belittle or reprimand/warn/threaten dominated. These titles contain emotionally charged words (ECW) or phrases, which provoke negative emotions such as disgust/retaliation, confusion, or some frustration or stress. Th is feeling of ‘disgust’ is present as a response to the situation when one should accept or ‘swallow’ something, which is unassimilable (not acceptable for the well- being of the organism’s self-regulation) (Francesetti et al., 2013). Th e state of confu-

20 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 2200 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

sion (according to the Psychology Dictionary, Krstic, 1991) is a situation where it is hard to think clearly. It is therefore hard to concentrate and it decreases the ability to make a decision. Frustration is the situation where one has a need but is unable to satisfy it. Strong frustration leads to regression and it enables personal development (Levin et al., 1941). Th e change of name issue was at least associated with the feeling of safety. Th e primary role of the script in the frame FOR is to mock, criticize, and belittle someone, to convince the public or to reprimand/warn/threaten. Th e primary role of the script in the frame BOYCOTT is mainly and dominantly to reprimand/ warn/threaten. Th e most exploitative themes in the columns were: Referendum, constitutional amendments, voting, and censuses (especially in the frame FOR — in 43% of the cases), Macedonian identity, national interests, language, nationality/ culture (especially in the Frame BOYCOTT — in 63.6% of the columns) and activities of the opposition party (only in frame FOR). In almost every script there were ECW or phrases and in almost one quarter of the scripts ECW were to be found literally in every sentence, sometimes with more than one ECW in one sentence. Th is is an indicator of the extreme tendency to provoke negative emotions and feelings, especially disgust and anger. Th ere is no diff erence between the two frames in this respect. More than 70 diff erent actors are named in all the analyzed columns. Th e attention of the fi rst mentioned frame was directed at the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, its leader Hristijan Mickoski, and the then President Gjorgji Ivanov. Th eir evaluation was mostly negative. To sum up, the data clearly show the proof of the general hypothesis which predicted that diff erent OL following a certain discourse will use diff erent themes (the fi rst hypothesis) and scripts (the second hypothesis) to construct two opposite media frames refl ecting the two opposing “for” and “against” discourses outlined in the two possible answers to the referendum challenge: YES or NO for changing the name of the country. Th ese fi ndings challenged the justifi cation of the way OLs seek to infl uence public opinion concerning the very sensitive issue of changing the name of the country. As has been discussed previously (Scheufele, 1999), messages promoted through media can only have an infl uence if media frames and audience frames are able to recognize one another. Th e fi nal outcome of the referendum shows that the frame ‘for’ does not completely match the audience frame. Th e overall content of the messages that abounded during this time provoked negative emotions, preventing the fulfi lment of needs and causing a general state of anxiousness. What is the justifi cation for causing disgust, frustration, and confusion and jeopardizing the mental health of citizens when they are expected to make a clear, deliberate, and conscientious decision on an issue important for the well- being of the whole country?

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020) ...... 21

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 2211 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Eleonora Serafi movska, Marijana Markovikj

REFERENCES

Arsovki, P. (2018). Распувачи на забавата [Party breakers]. Deutsche Welle on MK. Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://www.slobodenpecat.mk/rasipuvaci-na-zabavata. Ardèvol-Abreu, A. (2015). Framing theory in communication research in Spain. Origins, development and current situation. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 70, 423–450. Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia (2014). Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. Retrieved May 10, 2019, from https://www.sobranie.mk/content/Odluki%20USTAV/UstavSRSM.pdf. BBC News (2018, October 1). Macedonia referendum: Name change vote fails to reach threshold. BBC News. Retrieved October, 6, 2018, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45699749. BIRN (2018, August 30). Meta Urges Macedonia Albanians to Vote ‘Yes’ to Deal. Balkan Insights. Retrieved September 3, 2018, from https://balkaninsight.com/2018/08/30/albanian-president- calls-albanian-to-vote-for-name-deal-08-30-2018/. Bennett, W. L., & Entman, R. M. (2001). Mediated Politics: Communication in the Future of Democ- racy. New York: Cambridge University Press. Bennett, W. L., & Manheim, J. B. (2006). Th e one-step fl ow of communication. Th e Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 608(1), 213–232. Blazevska, K. (2018, September 21). Повикајте го “M” за убиство [Dial ‘M’ for Murder]. Prizma. Retrieved September 24, 2018, from https://prizma.mk/kolumni/povikajte-go-m-za-ubistvo. Bodendorf, F., & Kaiser, C. (2009). Detecting opinion leaders and trends in online social networks. Conference: Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Social Web Search and Mining, CIKM- SWSM 2009, Hong Kong, China, November 2, 2009. Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). A theory of framing and opinion formation in competitive elite environments. Journal of Communication, 57, 99–118. De Fleur, M., & Lovery, S. (1983). Personal infl uence: Two-step fl ow of communication. In Milestones in Mass Communication Research, Media Eff ects (pp. 189–213). New York, Longman Publishers. De Vreese, C. H., & Semetko, H. A. (2014). Political Campaigning in Referendums. London-New York: Routledge. Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarifi cation of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communi- cation, 43(4), 51–58. EWB (2018, September, 4). Stoltenberg and Kurz in Macedonia before Merkel. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2018/09/04/stoltenberg-kurz-macedonia-merkel/. Floudas, D. A. (2002). Pardon? A name for confl ict? FYROM’s dispute with Greece revisited. In: G. A. Kourvetaris, & V. Roudometof (Eds.), Th e New Balkans, East European Monographs (pp. 85–117). New York: Columbia University Press. Francesetti, G. (Ed.) (2013). Gestalt Th erapy in Clinical Practice. From Psychopathology to the Aes- thetic of Contact. Milano: Franco Angelis.r.l. Goff man, E. (1974). Frame Analysis. An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeast- ern University Press. Hallahan, K. (2008). Strategic Framing. International Encyclopedia of Communication. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from http://www.pitt.edu/~mitnick/BPweb/HallahanStrategicFramingHalla- han_ICE_051507.pdf. Kolemisevski, P. (2018, September 28). Со нас или против нас [With us or against us?]. Nova Makedonija. Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://www.novamakedonija.com.mk/pe- cateno-izdanie/со-нас-или-против-нас. Krstic, D. (1991). Psihološkirečnik [Psychological dictionary]. Savremena administracija: Beograd. Leduc, L. (2002). Opinion change and voting behavior in referendums. European Journal of Polit- ical Research, 41(6), 711–732. Levin, K., Barker, R., & Dembo, T. (1941). Extract from: Frustration and regression. An experiment with young children. Studies in Topological and Vector Psychology, 2, 216–219. Retrieved August 27, 2019, from http://gestalttheory.net/archive/lewin41.html.

22 ...... CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 1 (2020)

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 2222 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17 Media Framing: How Can the Constitutional Name of One Country Be Changed?

Lupia, A. (1992). Busy voters, agenda control, and the power of information. American Political Sci- ence Review, 86, 390–403. Lupia, A. (1994). Shortcuts versus encyclopedias: Information and voting behaviorin California in- surance reform elections. American Political Science Review, 88, 63–76. Matthes, J., & Kohring, K. (2008). Th e content analysis of media frames: Toward improving reli- ability and validity. Journal of Communication, 58(2), 258–279. McCombs, M. (2005). A look at agenda-setting: Past, present and future. Journalism Studies, 6(4), 543–557. McCombs, M., & Ghanem, S. (2001). Th e convergence of agenda setting and framing. In S. Reese, O. Gandy Jr., & A. Grant (Eds.), Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and our Understand- ing of the Social World (pp. 67–81). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. McCombs, M., & Reynolds, A. (2002). News infl uence on our pictures of the world. In J. Bryant, & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media Eff ects: Advances in Th eory and Research, 2nd ed. (pp. 1–18). Mahwah: LEA. McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). Th e agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quar- terly, 36(2), 176. Nelson, E. T., Oxley, Z. M., & Rosalee, A. (1997). Towards a psychology of framing eff ects. Political Behaviour, 19(3), 221–246. Pan, Z., & Kosicki, G. M. (1993). Framing analysis: An approach to news discourse. Political Com- munication, 10, 55–75. Pravo.org.mk. (2010). Law on referendum and other forms of direct voting of citizens. Retrieved Nov- ember 15, 2018, from http://www.pravo.org.mk. Rogers, E., & Dearing, J. (1988). Agenda-setting research: Where has it been, where is it going? Com- munication Yearbook, 11, 555–594. Rusjakov, A. (2018, September 15). Да беше Заев добар човек ќе беше Форест Гамп [If Zaev was a good man, he would have been our Forrest Gump]. Nova Makedonija. Retrieved from Septem- ber 30, 2018, from https://www.novamakedonija.com.mk/mislenja/kolumni/да-беше-заев- добар-човек-ќе-беше-нашиот. Scheufele, D. A. (1999). Framing the theory of media eff ect. Journal of Communication, 49(1), 103– 122. Serfi movska, E., & Markovikj, M. (2019). Discourse of emotions in the columns in the internet media in the period before the referendum on changing the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia. Proceedings of the Sixth International Scientifi c Conference Social Changes in the Global World. Ship: Goce Delcev University, Faculty of Law, 955–977. Souli, S. (October 1, 2018). Only 34% of Macedonians voted in the referendum on “Macedonia”. Quartz. Retrieved October 15, 2019, from https://qz.com/1407865/the-results-of-fyroms-macedonia-referendum/. Trickovski, B. (2018, September 18). На Европскиот референдум победи Македонија! [Mace- donia won the European referendum!]. Plus Info. Retrieved September 21, 2019, from https:// www.slobodenpecat.mk/na-evropskiot-referendum-pobedi-makedonija. THN Staff (June 13, 2018). Th e full text of the Greece–FYROM agreement. Th e National Herald. Retrieved August 27, 2019, from https://www.thenationalherald.com/204203/the-full-text-of- greece-fyrom-agreement-pdf/. Valente, T. (2008). Identifying opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Health Education & Be- havior, 34(6), 881–896. Walgrave, S., & Van Aelst, P. (2006). Th e contingency of the mass media’s political agenda setting power: Towards a preliminary theory. Journal of Communication, 56, 88–109. Weimann, G., Tustin, D. H., Vuuren, D., & Joubert, J. P. R. (2007). Looking for opinion leaders: Traditional vs. modern measures in traditional societies. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 19(2), 173–190.

ccejoc_springejoc_spring 22020bbb.indd020bbb.indd 2233 22020-06-05020-06-05 10:40:1710:40:17